Ace-Garageguy

Got her.

And here's a couple click-free.

Ditto. Thanks for the link too, Joe. Some good photos there. I worked with a composite shop years back, doing some subcontract work for a company that was supposedly building an exact replica of one of these for the owner to vintage-race, not wanting to risk the real one on the track. The company we were doing the work for had pulled plaster-based molds from the fiberglass components, and was particularly concerned whether the wood-grain visible on some of the inner panels (apparently the inner fenders etc. for these were mastered from something like luan plywood, and the grain transferred to the molds and subsequent parts) would be picked up by our production process....which it would. Apparently this is a particular identifier of original cars. (There are kit-cars of this available too). The work was all supposed to be secret-secret and we weren't supposed to let on to anyone what we were doing or who we were doing it for...which seemed kinda funny at the time. Came to find out somewhat later that the apparent intent had been to pass off at least one replica as a "discovered" original for very big bucks. I'm pretty sure there were charges filed and some general unpleasantness. Don't know all the details of that...but I thought youse guys might find the story interesting. STEVE: I'll happily delete this story if you feel it's not relevant to your build.

This is an entirely different kit and shares none of the tooling with the correct 1/25 scale kits shown above.

This one and its derivatives are correct, and is what I assumed you have. I just checked it against the frame you refer to above, and the body is slightly narrower at the firewall than the frame rails are.

Or it may be the 1/24 derived kit. Got a pic of the box?

A '29 Ford body, roadster or pickup, is significantly narrower than the stock '32 frame rails. However, '29 fords in every description imaginable have been built on '32 rails. You just have to narrow the rails a suitable amount...in 1:1 and in the model world. The Revell rails you refer to are too wide to look right under the old AMT '29 Ford body too. Here, they've been narrowed. by removing meat from the ends of the crossmembers and re-gluing. You'll have to narrow them even more of you want to channel the body.

Not particularly "strange" but one of the more unusual things on my bench a while back was a little girl's toy horse. She had dropped it and broken one of its legs. She had a collection of little horses and apparently this one was her favorite. According to her nanny at the time, who was my friend, she was pretty upset and when her parents offered to get her another identical one, she wouldn't have it; she loved THIS horse. The nanny brought it to me to see if I could repair it, and I could see why the girl liked it so much. About 1/16 scale and beautifully proportioned in a pose that practically defined horsey movement, it was a very high quality model. I drilled and pinned its leg back on using a steel pin and aviation epoxy for strength, then post-cured it like it was a flying part, and sculpted the musculature back to what it was supposed to be. Lucky for me, the horse was a bay (with black legs). Painting was relatively easy, and the repair was absolutely undetectable. Took something close to 10 hours, but the look on the little girl's face when I gave her her "well" horse back would have been worth 100...easy.

What they need to realize is that NOBODY likes to order one thing and get something else. If I order a plaid shirt, I don't want to open the mail and find a blue shirt, even if it comes with a free set of pocket protectors and a dozen spare buttons. Tell me FIRST you can't do plaid after all, and give ME the option, rather than trying to shove something else down my throat...as a surprise. Sure, if notified in advance, there are probably some people who would have canceled their orders. BUT, I'd wager the majority would have been OK with it had they been given the option BEFORE opening the things and being disappointed. Maybe management had a meeting and decided there would probably be fewer cancellations (refunds) if the wrong color was shipped without notice, banking on the fact that a lot of people won't go to all the trouble of shipping something back to get a refund. If this is the case, i still say it's chickenexhaust. It may be the way bean-counting "business" is taught these days, but it ain't right. It's long-term stupid. A far far wiser man than I once said "focus on good quality and service and the money will come". It's true, but most companies today focus primarily on getting the bucks and damm anything that gets in the way.

Machine work on the custom rims is top of the line. Very nice, sir.

Colby...good of you to try to be fair in reporting your past POSITIVE experiences with this company. On another note however, it's been my experience over the years that there are some people in the world who are simply incapable of saying "I was wrong". They'll do any amount of maneuvering, issue-dodging, blame shifting, excuse-making and citing of mitigating-circumstances to avoid making a simple admission that they could have done something differently, for the betterment of all. The fact that this particular company's current spokesman seems to be incapable of admitting the company SHOULD HAVE notified their customers that THE COLORS THEY ORDERED WEREN'T GOING TO BE THE COLORS SHIPPED pretty well insures I'll not be buying anything they make, no matter how good the quality is. Principles matter, as does telling the truth without being forced.

Another example. Comparing the locations of the engine mounts to the old frame mounts. Here's the engine mocked-up in the right location relative to other mechanical components. The piece of angle stock just ahead of the engine is for mockup purposes only. You'll also see I had to remove a big piece of the trans tunnel to clear this big 6-speed gearbox. I later decided I wanted to use a 426 Hemi rather than the smallblock Chebby (shown earlier) mated to the big 6-speed. Here, the firewall has been marked to allow the engine to clear it the way I want. The headers are also mocked-up, as are the upper suspension control arms I'm using. REMEMBER: That big chunk of angle in front of the engine is only for holding it in position while I make the real mounts. It will be removed when they're done. Semi-complete trans tunnel and firewall... Now that the engine is where it needs to be, all that remains is to fabricate the actual mounts that go on the frame and pick up the mount points on the block. You simply cut-to-fit strip stock, working carefully and accurately. Then look at how the trans mount needs to be designed to work with both the trans AND the frame. The slightly bowed piece of round stock is the trans mount / crossmember I made to hang the gearbox in a set of '32 Ford rails. Mounts like this can work on late-model cars just as well.

Here's one example. I had to build mounts to hang an old Pontiac in this little dragster. The white vertical pieces are webs that connect the upper and lower frame rails and provide mounting points at the right height for mounts that represent square tube. NOTE: This type of car also used plate-style mounts that were bolted to the front of the block, often under the timing cover. The plate design became pretty much standard after a while, and this car does use a plate rear mount that would be bolted between the bellhousing and the rear of the block. Though this is a rail dragster, I used exactly the same steps as outlined above to get the engine and mounts in precisely the correct location. The top view shows the actual mounts that the engine sits on, beveled to fit the block in the location of the real mounts on this engine.

This is one of those areas where it's exactly like swapping an engine in a real vehicle, only smaller. Proceed logically, one step at a time. First thing to determine is whether the engine/gearbox you plan to use will physically fit in the engine bay. Get an idea of how the original engine sits in the car, and then mock up the new one in a very closely similar position...especially as far as level or the angle it's installed at. Firewalls sometimes need to be modified, as do trans tunnels and inner fenders. Occasionally you'll need to slightly relocate the radiator. In reality you usually DON'T modify suspension to accommodate engine swaps, and it's not often necessary on models either. It's also sometimes necessary to alter a frame crossmember or an oil pan to get the engine in place at a reasonable height and setback. There are various ways to mock up engine placements. I'll usually use scrap or strip styrene, sometimes just rubber-cemented in place. You want your mockup to be accurate and even side to side, and sturdy enough to allow you to work on it while you make engine mounts. When you do the mockup, you need to leave space in the vicinity of the engine and trans mounts to measure and fit. Again just like real, look at where the original mounts are on the frame and where the mounting points are on the engine. The object is to simply connect the points...engine mount to frame mount, etc. Sometimes it's more expedient to make the trans mount first, and sometimes it works better to make the engine mounts first. Make your new mounts and glue them to the chassis, using the mocked-up engine in place as a jig. Use rubber cement on the engine-end of the mounts to hold them in place while they set up. Once the joints to the chassis are good and hard, remove the engine and remove whatever you used to mock the whole thing up, then fill joints (if necessary), primer and paint as usual. You'll also have to deal with exhaust system (manifolds or headers) clearance AFTER you get the mounts, but you need to think ahead a couple of moves while you're designing your mounts. Steering boxes, racks and linkage can also be things that will need to be moved slightly. Every engine swap is different, but these are the general guidelines. Sometimes you get lucky and the new engine pretty much drops in like it's made for it. This MAY be the case when you go to put the big-block Chebby in the older truck. GM to GM swaps in that era are usually pretty easy in 1:1.

Astroracer has the hot setup, and because HE posted it and you can deal with HIS lawyers if you hurt yourself or get paint all over the cat, I'll elaborate some on his technique. FIRST>>>WEAR GOOD EYE PROTECTION. Second: You need to have the can upright when you breach it so only propellant comes out and not paint. Look at the illustration above. The best place, usually, to breach the can is on the top end panel, just inside the outer ring that is crimped to hold the can sides to the top. You can hammer the awl or punch straight down at that location. Third: It's FAR easier if you put the can in a vise to hold it securely upright and stable, rather than trying to hold the can with one hand, the hammer with the second hand, the awl or punch with the third hand, etc.,...unless you're blessed with lots more hands than come as standard equipment for humans. Fourth: THINK about the direction you're going to be hitting the awl or punch relative to how the can is supported, and plan accordingly. It seems obvious, but it's easy to knock the can out of the vise and end up with paint spraying out the hole as the can goes rocket-propelled across the floor. Fifth: Shake the dog-snot out of the can prior to breaching it to get as much pigment and solids back in suspension as possible. Sixth: Be prepared to be startled by the rush of pressure out the hole when you breach it. And have a rag nearby to catch any paint that may spray out...even though it shouldn't. Seventh: Gloves are a good idea too.

The lines after your remedial work certainly look a LOT more like the real car. I wholeheartedly applaud your obsessiveness in trying to make models that actually look like the cars they're supposed to represent.

And just buy what you need WHEN you need it. I have colors I'll probably NEVER use because I set out to get a "good assortment".

Their definition of "the exact same product as promised" doesn't actually mean "the exact same product as promised". The word "exact" has an exact meaning, and this is blatantly not "exact". I think it's chickenexhaust on their part to fail to admit they should have notified the "pre-orders" who took "risks" with them that the "exact same product" being shipped is the "exact same product EXCEPT COLOR"...so it's not REALLY the EXACT same product now, is it? Nothing wrong with your thinking here. Guess I won't be buying a set for my 92FS.

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would put valve covers that say DeSoto or Ford...I've seen Olds 88 too...on a Chebby engine. Nothing wrong...I repeat...NOTHING wrong with a smallblock Chebby. It's a GREAT engine. Light, cheap, powerful. bulletproof, fits 'bout anywhere...and as much a vintage hot-rod icon as the flathead. Fake is just fake. Of course, there are a bunch of guys who think silicone grapefruit enhance a woman, too.

Skip's got a point. Cats don't even bother to think in terms of winning. They KNOW they're vastly superior to humans, so why play the game? I mean...who's using the litter box and who's dealing with the results, anyway?

Fine looking fleet. Lowboy looks great too. Makes me want to try a truck or three.

They must not be the oh-so-exotically-hip flying piranha.

Yup. Orange peel or dry-spray on a solid color under the clear can definitely have an effect on how good the final finish looks. It can be a particular problem when doing a blend after repairs. Dry-spray under clear can cause a "halo" effect that makes the blend as visible as if you'd painted it with a roller.

Yeah, I did a contract project at a small airfield in the Az. desert a few years back. My lips dried out really badly the first couple weeks, but with drinking a LOT more water than I ever had before in my life, I got acclimated and it ceased to be a problem. Chapstick definitely helped...but I never had it up my nose.

X2.